Effective child care policy is not child's play

Wondering why child care needs to be put on the political agenda? One word: productivity.

Women are one of Australia's biggest resources yet child care that is expensive and difficult to find locks many out of the workforce. Yolanda Vega says child care policy needs to change. Fast.

This is one of a series of articles looking at Australia investing in its future in the lead-up to the 2013 federal election. More coverage can be found at the ABC's election website Australia Votes.

If Prime Minister Kevin Rudd does not get serious about improving Australia's child care policy he may be left with no option but to adopt the one child policy, as China did, to alleviate the social and economic problems that will ensue.

Rudd wants the mums and dads of Australia to vote for him, but he has failed to address one of the most important issues facing a great majority of Australian families – child care.

Before and after school care, long day care, family day care, occasional care and informal care for when children are ill or on holidays, is desperately needed by an estimated 3.6 million children under the age of 12 in Australia according to the 2011 Census.

Yet the current system is struggling to keep up with quality, affordable care difficult and sometimes impossible to find.

The self-employed women of Australia, the single mothers of Australia, the small business owners of Australia, the wage-earning mothers of Australia and the millions of families struggling with the child care system in Australia are waiting for child care to be placed firmly on the election agenda.

We are right to ask whether Rudd has forgotten about the child care promises he made – and then dumped - during his first run as PM.

No one says solving the child care dilemma is easy. Behind closed doors politicians often refer to the sector as a “poison chalice” - it is fertile ground to create good policy, but delivering it has consistently proven difficult.

Rudd's history on the matter is a case in point.

This lack of effective policy has caused anguish for working mothers. The difficulty of finding and affording quality childcare is a daily juggle for women with children, some of whom find the struggle so difficult it becomes near impossible to participate in the economy.

Labor

Increased child care rebate of 50 per cent of child care expenses up to $7,500 per child per. Not yet indexed.

Field trials of flexible child care (including overnight and weekend care) worth $12.9 million over three years.

This battle influences the decision by some women to walk away from the corporate environment and start their own businesses – the rising tide of so-called 'Mumpreneurs' – who cannot find any other way to juggle working life once they start a family.

Statistics suggest that a typical working woman with two children in Australia today may be living on, or close to, the poverty line if she is also paying for both children to be in child care. For many, it’s more affordable to stay home.

Our figures show that the average female wage is about $717 per week. Childcare costs are high. Those living in capital cities can pay in excess of $100 per child, per day if they are lucky enough to find a place. It’s easy to see how child care can quickly become unaffordable for a family with two children in full-time care – notwithstanding the government’s rebate.

Lack of affordable and accessible child care in Australia is not new. It is an issue that has been around for decades and yet successive governments have yet to arrive at a successful policy.

Child care needs a holistic approach and with an election due to be called any day, now is the time to get it on the political agenda. We must all participate in the discussion.

If anyone is wondering why child care needs to be put on the political agenda, there is just one word to keep in mind: productivity.

Inaccessible and unaffordable child care is leading our nation to a potential productivity disaster by preventing millions of women from working and participating fully in the economy. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2011 Census, there are 3.4 million Australian women who are not participating in our workforce. We can assume that accessing childcare is likely to be an issue for a significant number of them.

The demand for child care is projected to climb as fertility rates rise and net immigration also climbs.

But there is a wider economic problem also brewing.

If women don't earn, they can't contribute to superannuation, and the result will be an increase in the demand for welfare for this generation and generations to follow. The World Bank reminds us that when women participate in the economy, they invest significant amounts of what they earn back into education, infrastructure and health.

Yet if women can't earn, they can't spend. If they can't spend, the economy suffers and our children and communities pay the highest price.

If we are to be practical about productivity we must acknowledge that women are one of our biggest resources. Women make up the majority of university graduates and are the most important household consumers. A well-known quote from The Economist sums it up: “Forget China, India and the internet: economic growth is driven by women”.

If Rudd 2.0 really wants to face "new challenges in productivity", as stated during his first speech to the National Press Club, then child care must be placed high on his government’s agenda. To fix the system once and for all is to the long-term benefit of the Australian people and our economy.

But if politicians continue to underplay the importance of child care perhaps the families of Australia should expect the announcement of a one child policy. At least that way the problem of supply will be solved by eliminating demand.

Yolanda Vega is executive director of Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI). View her full profile here.

The AWCCI has launched a campaign to put child care back on the political agenda.